844 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.36 



Ecology of sal (Shorea robusta). — III, Soil aeration and water cultures, 

 R. S. Hole and Puran Singh (Indian Forest Rec, 5, (1916), No. 4 [pt. 3], pp. 

 87-102, pis. 4). — Further experiments relative to the causes of the dying out of 

 sal seedlings (E. S. R., 36, p. 345) led to the conclusion that inferior growth in 

 badly aerated soil is correlated with an accumulation of carbon dioxid or a 

 deficiency of oxygen in the soil, and that poor growth is not due to the presence 

 of excessive water in itself. See also previous notes (E. S. R., 35, p. 649; 36, 

 p. 44). 



Our wattles, T. C. Wollaston {Melbourne and Sydney: Lothian Book Pub- 

 lishing Co., [191T\, pp. 76, pis. 12). — Popular descriptive accounts with illustra- 

 tions of the Australian wattles (Acacia spp.). 



Investigations of the rotting of slash in Arkansas, W. H. Long {V. S. 

 Dept. Agr. Bui. 496 (1917), pp. 14)- — This bulletin reports an investigation of 

 the rapidity with which timber slash or brush rots and of the fungi causing this 

 rotting under each of the methods of pulling, piling, and scattering brush. 



When brush is lopped and scattered it rots much more rapidly than when 

 either piled or pulled. None of the main fungi concerned in rotting either oak 

 or pine slash in Arkansas produce heart rots in living trees. 



Yields from the destructive distillation of certain hardwoods, II, R. C. 

 Palmer (U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 508 (1917), pp. 8, figs. 2). — In continuation of a 

 previous report giving the yields from the destructive distillation of a number 

 of hardwoods and of material from different parts of the tree (E. S. R., 32, p. 

 48) the present bulletin gives the yields for white elm, slippery elm, silver 

 maple, green ash, blue ash, yellow ash, chestnut oak, tanbark oak, California 

 black oak, Louisiana swamp oak, and eucalyptus. The results are deemed of 

 especial interest to the manufacturers of by-products. 



Poles purchased, 1915, A. M. McCreight (17. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 519 (1917), 

 pp. 4). — A statistical account of the number of poles purchased during 1915 in 

 the United States by the telephone and telegraph companies, steam and electric 

 railroads, and electric light, heat, and power companies. A total of 4,077,964 

 poles was reported as purchased during 1915, an increase of 659,944 over 1911, 

 and the largest number reported in any single year. 



Handbook on wood preservation ([Baltimore, Md.]: Amer. Wood-Preservers' 

 Assoc, 1916, pp. V-\-73). — A compilation of facts and figures relative to wood 

 preservation. The following subjects are considered : Decay, preparation, and 

 treatment of wood ; chronicle of wood preservation ; progress in wood preserva- 

 tion ; processes for preserving wood ; wood preservatives ; manufacturers of 

 wood preservatives and wood-preserving equipment ; uses and users of preserved 

 wood ; wood-preserving plants ; American Wood-Preservers' Association ; and a 

 bibliography of wood preservation. 



DISEASES OF PLANTS. 



Transmission of diseases by seeds, L. Blabinghem (Assoc. Franc. Avanc. 

 Sci., Compt. Rend., 43 (1914), pp. 470-478, fl.g. 1). — The author, concluding a 

 discussion of investigations and observations on the transmission of plant 

 diseases and their reappearance, states that there probably exist different varie- 

 ties of Alth(ea rosea as regards the period of sporulation of Puccinia parasitic 

 thereon. The facts are emphasized that the more obvious stages of disease 

 fungi are not necessarily those in which the disease is transmitted (citing the 

 case of a mycoplasraic stage or one in which seeds, though infected, do not reveal 

 that fact to the eye), and that the duration of the stages of latency or of activity 

 (knowledge of which is necessary to the control of disease) is dominated largely 

 by external conditions. It is thought that the apparent formation of resistant 



